Scientists Transform Deadly Plant Into Cancer Killing Smart Bomb
The ancient Greeks called the thapsia garganica plant "deadly carrot," because their camels would eat it and quickly die. The Roman emperor Nero mixed it with frankincense to treat bruises. Until the early 20th century it was used in a plaster to treat rheumatism—the side effects, however, were barely worth the cure.
But what happens when you deploy thaspia on a molecular level? You get a teeny tiny, very precise, cancer-killing grenade. It's an entirely new approach that has its creators throwing around the word "cure."
Thapsigargin, the active ingredient in the thapsia plant, does a fantastic job of killing tumor cells by destroying their calcium balance. But it will do that to any cell that crosses its path. So Genspera, a biotech company in San Antonio, Texas, found a way to strictly guide and control the drug through the bloodstream until it finds its target.
"That's why we came up with the concept of producing a molecular grenade, so it activates only in the tumor," said Craig Dionne, GenSpera's president, CEO and director.
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